Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld is the main character in a series of short, humorous novels by Scottish author

Alexander McCall Smith Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law an ...

. In the books, Von Igelfeld is depicted as: *a "Professor Dr" *proud, stoic, and unable or unwilling to admit or face failure or imminent disaster in his professional or personal life (frequently the basis for the humour in these novels) *a

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

*the author of a fictional book ''

Portuguese Irregular Verbs ''Portuguese Irregular Verbs'' is a short comic novel by Alexander McCall Smith, and the first of McCall Smith's series of novels featuring Professor Dr von Igelfeld. It was first published in 1997. Some consider the book to be a series of con ...

'', described as "''the seminal work on

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

philology''" and "''a lengthy book of some twelve hundred pages''" *proud of his aristocratic German heritage *an academic at the fictional Institute of Romance Philology in Regensburg, Germany *a colleague of the other major characters of the book series, Professor Dr Dr ('' honoris causa'') Florianus Prinzel and Professor Dr Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer *a

compound word In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme (less precisely, a word or sign) that consists of more than one stem. Compounding, composition or nominal composition is the process of word formation that creates compound lexemes. Compounding occurs when ...

name in the German language meaning "

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...

field Field may refer to: Expanses of open ground * Field (agriculture), an area of land used for agricultural purposes * Airfield, an aerodrome that lacks the infrastructure of an airport * Battlefield * Lawn, an area of mowed grass * Meadow, a grass ...

" (compounded from ''igel'' = hedgehog and ''feld'' = field) *tall *born on May Day, 1 May *initially a student in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

, Germany *the second for his friend Prinzel's duel, which he had mistakenly arranged in a drunken discussion *a doctoral student of Professor Dr Dr Dr Dieter Vogelsang, in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Germany, studying Celtic philology and in particular Early Irish, and completed a field trip to Cork to gather data on its

profanity Profanity, also known as cursing, cussing, swearing, bad language, foul language, obscenities, expletives or vulgarism, is a socially offensive use of language. Accordingly, profanity is language use that is sometimes deemed impolite, rud ...

*a doctoral student (second assistant) of Professor Walter Schöffler-Henschell at the University of

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

Book series

The books in the series are: *2003 ''

'' *2003 ''

The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs ''The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs'' is a novel by Scottish author and academic Alexander McCall Smith. The book relates further matters in the life of the main character, Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, following on from the first book ...

'' *2003 ''

At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances ''At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances'' is a book by Scottish author and academic Alexander McCall Smith, relating further matters in the life of the main character, Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld. Plot The Professor is a troubled Ger ...

'' *2011 ''

Unusual Uses for Olive Oil Unusual or The Unusual or The Unusuals may refer to: Film and TV *''The Unusuals'', a 2009 TV series. Music *'' The Unusual'', an El Da Sensei album * Unusual (album) Giuni Russo 2006 Songs * Unusual (song) Trey Songz *"Unusual", song by Franc ...

'' *2021 ''Your Inner Hedgehog'' The illustrations in the books are by Iain McIntosh.

External links

Author's page at Random House publishers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Igelfeld, Moritz-Maria Von Fictional nobility Fictional German people Literary characters introduced in 2003 Fictional philologists